A gourmet website launched in Tokyo this week is aiming to make it easier for foreigners visiting Japan to understand and order local cuisine.
The site – Japanful.com – aims to have 200,000 bars and restaurants in Japan registered by 2020 and become the largest gourmet site targeting visitors to nation. It targets 7.2 million users annually.
With a free multilingual translation tool for Japanese restaurant owners and easy to use features for tourists, the website supports Japanese restaurants and bars looking to draw patronage from foreigners visiting the country.
The site was created by Cloud 9 Ltd, whose headquarters are in Machida City, Tokyo. MD Kentaro Fujimoto said he wants all visitors to Japan to be able to “fully enjoy the abundance of Japanese Cuisine”.
Japanful will offer restaurants a way to make “the burdensome process of creating a foreign language menu” easier with a free food-specific translator. “Foreigners can thus easily understand the complexities of Japanese cuisine and Japanese restaurants can move one step closer to true Omotenashi (hospitality),” said Fujimoto.
Foreigners using the site can gain information about restaurants and their menus in their own language, read reviews and ratings and find Japanese food that suits their tastes. They can share bookmarks and reviews in a ‘My Page’ part of the site and browse Japanful-produced articles, features and videos targeted to what foreigners want to know about Japanese cuisine
After its launch, Japanful plans to continuously improve usability, develop a smartphone app and become multilingual supporting more than just English.
